


What hides in the woods

by Fushicho



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Angst, I promise I killed no one, M/M, Things Go Wrong, Witcher Contracts, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27325210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fushicho/pseuds/Fushicho
Summary: Geralt takes a contract about what the villager describe as a witch, and it doesn't go well.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 7
Kudos: 39
Collections: The Witcher Flash Fic Challenge: Halloween Special





	What hides in the woods

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my wonderful betas [unstable_grad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unstable_grad)  
> and [Squeakerblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squeakerblue)  
> that allowed me to post in time in spite of our respective timezones!
> 
> As usual, please feel free to suggest any tag that might be missing!

“So, you’re telling us that there’s a witch in the woods. But not a witch-witch. Like… an old hag, but not a beautiful sorceress? That’s what you’re trying to tell us?”

“Yes, Master bard. We saw her, we swear. In the woods, when it’s dark, or in the fog. She floats above the ground and screams curses when we get near.”

“Hm.”

Geralt seemed doubtful; he always was at first when villagers started to recall what they saw. And this time, he wasn’t alone. Sorceresses were known for their beauty —and their vanity if he was completely honest— so Jaskier couldn’t fathom why one of them would appear as an old woman. This meant that his friend would have to investigate and try to guess what all of this was about.

“It’s going to be dangerous, isn’t it?”Jaskier asks when they’re outside again, walking toward the forest. 

Under the sun the trees almost shone like emeralds, they could hear birds singing: nothing seemed threatening (which was not surprising since the witch,  _ or whatever it was _ , seemed to only appear under gloomy weather).

“Probably. You should stay in town, Jaskier.”

“What? No! There’s  _ no way  _ I’m not coming with. Can you imagine the song I could write? How much coin we could make out of it? We haven’t had an exciting contract in like  _ forever  _ and an epic song could clearly help your reputation. With another epic tale to back you up, you wouldn’t have such a hard time to get paid fairly. Or to get paid at all, for that matter. Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed —though I’m quite sure you did— but—”

“If I say yes, will you shut up?”

“Yes, absolutely. If you were to accept my company for the duration of this contract, I promise to be absolutely silent. Even more so than our dear Roach, like the fish she’s named after. Like a  _ tomb. _ ”

“ _ Fine.  _ Let’s see what we can find.”

The witcher grumbled, shaking his head slightly as they entered the woods. Between the trees, they do find some traces of activity. A fallen log partially cut down. Harvested mushrooms. Footprints in the mud. Nothing out of the ordinary or that couldn’t belong to the villagers, even though they said they avoided the forest since it all started.

“Well, so far I’m not impressed,” Jaskier sighed, stretching his arms above his head, “do you think they lied to us? It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“They smelled like fear. Could be because of the woods, could be because they knew they were lying. We’ll see once it’s dark. Shouldn’t be long.”

They continued to walk side by side and it was only after they had wandered for a while that the bard began to notice that the landscape was slowly changing around them. The sun was getting down, casting long, gaunt shadows that completely changed the atmosphere. The trees were bigger, ancient, covered in mosses, their branches creaking in the wind that was slowly picking up, pushing languid stripes of fog toward them.

“Hm, Geralt? Do your witcher senses catch something?”

“No, not yet.”

Alright. If he wasn’t picking up anything, it meant they were safe. His friend would smell any approaching monster long before they were in danger. Or hear it. Or even  _ see  _ it since low luminosity wasn’t a problem for his cat-like eyes.

_ And yet. _

Jaskier couldn’t help the way his skin prickled like it usually did when he was watched. There was something nefarious in those woods. He was sure of it. Mist started to form in front of their mouths every time they exhaled, and he fell in line behind his friend as it felt safer to let him lead the way.

They were still walking when something caught his attention at the corner of his eye, but when he turned his head, he couldn’t see anything. It probably was a deer, they could be sneaky in their natural habitat, and they would probably be careful around two humanoids.

But then it happened a second time, a flurry of black and white somewhere in the branches. And while it was a bit surprising, the bard chose to not worry about it. There were a lot of birds that would start to be active at this hour after all.

The third time, he decided it was too much. Sure, there was a lot of wildlife that lived at dusk or night but… he wouldn’t only see them in the corner of his eyes. He would catch glances of wings or hoofs. Hell, he would  _ hear  _ them, because even if he was only human his hearing wasn’t bad.

“Geralt? I, uh… I think something is following us.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“But what if it was magic? I saw it both on the ground and in the trees.”

“My medallion’s still.”

“I  _ saw  _ something, Geralt. You know I wouldn’t lie about it.”

The fact that his friend finally stopped in his tracks to turn around was a bit comforting, but the fact that there was nothing to be seen was  _ really distressing _ . There  _ was  _ something. He saw it. The sun hadn’t been particularly harsh, he had eaten, drank reasonably, didn’t consume anything he probably shouldn’t have, so there was no way he was hallucinating.

But now with Geralt arching a brow at him, with one of his signature “hmm” reverberating through his chest (the one that that meant  _ I told you so _ ), Jaskier felt increasingly foolish for mentioning it. There was nothing Jaskier could do to prove his point, and he hadn’t any proof that would help him argue with the Witcher so he sighed, resigned to try to fight off his anxiety and turned around.

He froze immediately, taking a breath of air that smelled like decay as blood-filled eyes met his, so close he could barely see anything else. It felt like an eternity before he could recoil, expelling the air of his lungs in a scream as one of his hands scrambled for Geralt.

By the time his witcher spun around, one arm around him and the other brandishing his silver sword, it was gone and Jaskier collapsed to the ground, his knees suddenly weak and his heart pounding in his chest.

“Dear Gods, Geralt, did you see it?” he asked, his voice wavering as he tried to breathe slowly to calm his panicked heart. 

Geralt crouched down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder ( _ he’d never admit it out loud, but the hand soothed his frazzled nerves _ ).

“No. What was it?”

“I’m not sure,” Jaskier said, breath finally caught, eyes meeting Geralt’s. “It looked human. Kind of. Stray strands of greasy hair, yellow-ish eyes bloodshot, not like yours, more like when someone’s sick. I… I’m not sure about the rest, it was only there for a second, I think it was a woman?”

“Hm. So that confirms what the villagers said. There’s  _ something _ .”

“I suppose we can’t go back to the village, right?”

“I can’t. And I don’t want you to go back alone.”

The bard sighed heavily and realised how much he regretted insisting to come along. At least it was great material for his songs… not that he felt like writing one anymore. He held out his hand to Geralt, not quite looking at him because he didn't want to look too pleading, and chewed on his lower lip when he was helped back on his feet.

"Ready to go, dear?"

"Hm."

Much to his surprise, his witcher kept their hands linked and the feel of the rough leather was comforting against his skin. He stayed close as they continued to progress through the forest, the combination of the night and the trees making him almost unable to see anything besides what was at his feet.

Jaskier started to feel cold. His clothes were damp with the mist that swirled around them, and he was pretty sure if it wasn't for the brisk pace they kept, his teeth would be chattering by now.

And yet, he didn't care.

He couldn't get those eyes out of his mind, couldn't even think about glancing behind him. Or even to the sides, to be honest. That… thing had been terribly close and he wasn't sure if Geralt had known it was there before he screamed. That wasn't reassuring at all.

"Jaskier," the witcher whispered, still looking right in front of him, "in front of us, top right in the dead tree, is that her? The one you saw?"

The bard glanced up briefly, feeling goosebumps rising on his skin as he recognized the emaciated figure. He couldn’t have described her, but he had no doubt. She seemed to float in the trees, her skin clinging to her bones where her torn up, grimy dress didn’t cover her.

“It’s her,” he murmured, struggling to keep his eyes off the thing in the trees. “what do we do now?”

“I don’t know. My medallion is vibrating but I have no idea what she is. I don’t smell anything, and she doesn’t make any noise when she moves.”

“So we just… walk, hoping she won’t attack?”

“Hm.”

_ Oh. _ They were  _ fucked _ . And not in a good way, mind you. Jaskier started to wonder how many hours were left before dawn, and how big this forest could possibly be. The vegetation around them didn’t show any signs of getting lighter like it was in the parts that were close to the edge, either because there were only younger trees as it expanded or because of human activities.

In other words, they had the time to get killed more than once.

“I’m scared, Geralt.” He breathed out when, after several yards, the figure vanished from its spot in the trees.

"I won't let anything happen to you. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I do. It's just… it was so close, and… did they say what she does to those who enter the woods?"

"They didn't."

Jaskier bit his lower lip and forced himself to breathe in as calmly as he could. There was no point in panicking now. It was probably nothing too nefarious if the villagers didn't mention it. Witchers were used to man-eating monsters, there was no point in lying about  _ that _ .

He couldn’t keep track of the time as they continued to walk deeper and deeper, because it felt like  _ days _ when it couldn't have been more than a few hours. He fell into an almost meditative state until something cracked loudly under one of his boots, making them freeze in their paths. The bard looked down then slowly backed up,, paling in horror when he realised he’d stepped on a bone.

"Geralt, it's not human, right? It's… it's a deer or something. Right?"

"No," the witcher replied slowly, looking around them, "it's human."

Jaskier took his eyes off the bone he just crushed, trying to see  _ why _ his friend could think it was human. It took too long, but once he saw it, there was no way he could unsee it. A skull rested nearby. Another, a bit farther. He could recognize ribs, too.

Hundreds of people must have died here.

Somewhere in the trees a shriek reverberated, similar to the ones that had been described to them by the villagers.

"Oh, Geralt. What can we do?" He asked, ignoring the sudden burn of tears that threatened to fall, clutching to the leathered hand that never let go of his.

"I don't know, Jaskier. I don't know."


End file.
